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Topic: Big Items of the Future! (Read 57480 times)

AT-TE's and Falcons are on clearance everywhere around me at Targets and WMs. Does this bode well for the future of large vehicles? Did they sell enough to recoup their cost? Do retailers know there's more big vehicles coming so they're trying to make room? Obviously Joe and TF should have a larger footprint this year - SW still has the CW cartoon so I can't see them scaling back shelf space.

That may just be a localized issue for you. A lot of the reports I've been seeing locally as well as nationally indicate that sales were good. AT-TE's sold through well, and Falcons sold too, but they're lingering a little. I think that's price generated.

I don't know that we're going to see a huge shift in shelfspace for the GI Joe or Transformers movies. There have been a number of movie based toy lines that have not performed well in recent years. Transformers actually did reasonably well for the first movie. GI Joe might be more of question mark for Hasbro. The Joes have a big fan base, but will that translate to the kids? Right now I've only seen about 4 feet of shelf space for the Joes at TRU stores. And that's in an aisle that's totally devoted to military figures and toys.

As for Star Wars at retail? The line is still one of the best performers in the boys toys category. And with the success of the cartoon network series Star Wars is going to be more at the forefront. Especially with kids getting into the Clone Wars line in a big way. Star Wars may lose it's feature store at TRU stores to another movie, but I expect it to maintain a significant ammount of shelf space.

I would assume that the next resets will find big big shelf space for GI Joe and Transformers due to the movies coming out this summer...but I don't think it will be at the expense of Star Wars. More like the Comic side of the aisles

I was reading through Adam's Q and A over at GH, and someone asked him what he expected to see at Toy Fair this year, etc. One thing mentioned is that the BMF maybe didn't do as well as it could have, and we might not see any more OT "big" ships anytime soon. I can say that the AT-TE does, at this point, seem to have outsold the BMF for certain (and by everyone's accounts here, that seems to be the general consensus) - although both seemed to do ok around here (I haven't seen any AT-TEs for awhile now, and there's a couple BMFs on clearance at WM - but that's about it).

Anyways, I hope that we'll see more OT ships get re-dos in the future at some point though. They don't all need to be "huge" ships (Snowspeeder, AT-ST would be nice too), but I can't say I wouldn't be interested in newer versions of the Slave 1, AT-AT, and others. Anyways, do you think the lack of interest is there for OT ships - or was the pricepoint just too high? Is $100 the max for these "big" vehicles, even if they aren't quite perfect scale? Not that the prequel/CW ships aren't cool too - I'm personally having a tough time passing them up right now, but I just don't have the budget/display space currently - but I wouldn't mind seeing a new OT ship here or there too. In general, what do you think we have learned about what works/doesn't work with the big vehicle assortment this year?

I think the Falcon suffered from a combination of many things... size, price, competiton, no media support, and most of all timing. I think Hasbro should try to only market one large vehicle at a time. I think a $150 AT-AT would do fine at retail. Collectors would be a bit more willing to buy as it wouldn't take up a lot of space, doesn't need much media support due to its relation to storm troopers, and if Hasbro is smart they would have it as the only large item on shelves. I think the timing of the Falcon hurt it due to the high price in the down economy, plus Hasbro had the cheaper and perhaps more kid-friendly AT-TE to tempt parents during the holidays. I hope the Turbo Tank does well so we do get an OT vehicle or two in the future. (Personally, I'd be more than willing to fork over $150 for an At-At and even $100 for a Sail Barge)I cannot think of any other big Prequel vehicles that I want to own... I could see the Twilight and even the MTT being made, but those seem too risky for the big H.It's still amazing to think that not even three years ago Hasbro couldn't stop saying that "big vehicles don't sell!", and now we're on our third new one.

I'm quite interested in seeing what this new G.I. Joe playset looks like and how it does at stores. I'm optimistic for the people who want some Star Wars playsets. However, I can't help but think that any playsets that are released will be a disappointment for collectors. I imagine any Hasbro-made playset to contain many spring activated features, spinning battle platforms (think Geonosis Arena) and a few missile launchers, thus killing the chances of a nice display environment for figures. As much as I'd like a Death Star tower playset similar to the vintage toy or a modular Tantive hallway, I think anything Hasbro does make will only dissappoint collectors, flop at retail, and further Hasbro's view of no playsets. Lets stick to vehicles if we want big items.

I think those are good points on the Falcon, Greg. As much as we might like to see them, I think one big vehicle ($100+) at retail a year is probably about the limit. It might help spacing them out in spring/fall, but realistically, releasing the big item during the holiday shopping season makes the most sense. Like you said, timing wasn't the best. Economy in the crapper, spending down, competition from another large vehicle that is currently in media/TV/movies, definitely didn't help. That said, I did see most of the Falcons sell in our area for the most part - although not quite as quickly as the AT-TE.

I think you have a good idea about the future of the big vehicles. It looks like the Clone Turbo Tank/Juggernaut is coming this year, and it looks cool (at least from the box art). Then, like you said, currently we don't have quite as many real big vehicles from the PT - although that could change with the CW cartoon - so maybe in 2010 we see the AT-AT. It makes sense with the big OT vehicles having a year off this year, and then release a brand new AT-AT for the 30th Anniversary of Empire Strikes Back. Slave 1 could also be a choice, but the AT-AT may have more broad appeal. Couple that with an all-new Snowspeeder in the "starfighter" assortment, and that would be a pretty good combo for 2010.

Like others have said, I think the Falcon suffered from a few things, but I think the biggest factor is it's iconic to the old guard, not the new, and so the AT-TE outperformed it. The Falcon's a great toy... As a kid, I think I'd love it, however I'm thinking as a person who likes the OT too... So yeah, as a kid I would love it, but kids today think differently... AT-TE's are more popular with them because there's a TV show and a movie last year that featured it. It wins...

THe Turbo Tank has that going for it again, and so I think it'll do fairly well just as the AT-TE did. The Falcon... I still have about 8 of them at my local WM, now moved to lawn/garden, for $99.99... Same ones that were there months before Christmas. Great toy, great ship, but it didn't have support and so it didn't sell nearly as well. I agree with Adam that it's maybe not likely we'll see a new large OT vehicle... If the Falcon can't fly off shelves, I think that says a lot about any other potential OT toy.

I haven't seen an AT-TE now in about 2 months. Even at full price they moved well. I only got my 2nd one using a coupon code at Hasbro because, well, I sure wasn't gonna find it at retail for anything less than $100. That's fairly impressive when you think about it, especially considering how many of the things were at all kinds of stores.

Like others have said, I think the Falcon suffered from a few things, but I think the biggest factor is it's iconic to the old guard, not the new, and so the AT-TE outperformed it. The Falcon's a great toy... As a kid, I think I'd love it, however I'm thinking as a person who likes the OT too... So yeah, as a kid I would love it, but kids today think differently... AT-TE's are more popular with them because there's a TV show and a movie last year that featured it. It wins...

THe Turbo Tank has that going for it again, and so I think it'll do fairly well just as the AT-TE did. The Falcon... I still have about 8 of them at my local WM, now moved to lawn/garden, for $99.99... Same ones that were there months before Christmas. Great toy, great ship, but it didn't have support and so it didn't sell nearly as well. I agree with Adam that it's maybe not likely we'll see a new large OT vehicle... If the Falcon can't fly off shelves, I think that says a lot about any other potential OT toy.

I haven't seen an AT-TE now in about 2 months. Even at full price they moved well. I only got my 2nd one using a coupon code at Hasbro because, well, I sure wasn't gonna find it at retail for anything less than $100. That's fairly impressive when you think about it, especially considering how many of the things were at all kinds of stores.

I have the same thinking Jesse. As a kid, I would have been all about this new Falcon as well (just as I was with the vintage one then I guess) - but I have more of an OT mindset as well. I can understand why the AT-TE maybe performed better - particularly with parents. Even with collectors, it has some "army building" potential, and I've seen/heard comments from people that said "I already have a Falcon, this is all-new" - so that might have something to do with it too.

You make a good point that if the Falcon can't sell out, what hope does any other $100+ OT vehicle have? The timing, etc. has been discussed and probably has something to do with it, but like I said before, I really hope this isn't the end of re-done OT vehicles - big or otherwise. I think one a year is a better pace, and like I said, I think 2010 is as good as time as any to try another one - probably the AT-AT. I know that the OT has had its time in the sun with the vintage, POTF2, and mixed in with the current line(s) - but there's a part of me that just misses seeing OT stuff at retail like this. Not that I mind the PT/CW movies, shows or current vehicles (I still want an AT-TE, and the Juggernaut looks really nice from what we've seen) - I guess it just seems like its all prequel era all the time any more (or EU), and I like seeing a little more OT sprinkled in (although the figures for this year so far look nice).

Anyways, like I mentioned, the AT-TE is all gone around here too (and has been), and I'm getting awfully tempted to order one off of HTS if I can talk the Mrs. into it at some point. I don't know what shipping would be, but it seems to be the only option now for those who missed it. The Juggernaut might be even more tempting to me, I always liked that vehicle design for some reason.

I look at a couple of things that were not in the Falcon's favor. And this comes from listening to family that have some young kids that are into Star Wars.

-PRICE! The price on the Falcon was too high for most parents to stomach. And this economy did not help things. I had family members asking me if I had an old Falcon that they could offer to their kids in lieu of one that was in stores for over $150. The $100 price point was apparently much more attractive as far as a big toy goes.

-SIZE. I love the BMF Falcon. It's got pretty much anything I could've hoped for in a Falcon playset. But it's size is such that holding it to "fly it around the room" is just not a possibility...even for an adult. And imagine how that comes across for a kid. The Falcon is supposed to be one of the fastest ships in the Star Wars universe, but that doesn't really translate to play value when a kid can barely even pick the thing up to move it around. This is one aspect where the vintage Falcon succeeds since a kid can use that front landing gear as a handle in order to "fly" their Millenium Falcon.

Even after seeing all the pictures on websites, I STILL did not fathom the size of that thing until I had it in the den on the floor (because as Nick said, you can't "Fly it")... worth every penny, but not an entry level piece for sure.

Unfortunately the shipping I think will be horrendous. Otherwise I'd probably take you up on the offer David. It'd be 3 for me, hah. PM me if you can get a shipping quote for 15656... Doesn't hurt to ask I figure.